<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Dre:</div><div class="quote_post">He's right tho'. Streed cred goes along way with today fan. Thats one reason cats like Iverson,Marbury and Francis are so popular. They are easliy identifiable by most of street cats because of their hard scrabble background,street style game and the type of street swagger they bring to the court. Why do you think the NBA jumped all over the streetball thing,endorsing tournaments and even coming out with NBA Street Series dvds. The street is a money maker and the NBA and owners capitalize on it.</div> yes, sir.
Come on guys, you saw the love Flip got this year on the Sonics. Imagine if he did it on the most street creddiest team that ever street credded.
Once Flip becomes a household name, he will garner a HUGE fanbase. Anyone see the Flip gang at the Rookie game? This season he's only just starting to get some attention, people had no idea who he was before this season, now they do. He has all the tools to get the sort of following that guys like AI and Francis have. Quick, killer crossover and he MAKES THE PLAY HAPPEN. People love watching him play, the fact that he's come from a rough background and went through Community College and Div 2 College ball IMO just adds to the popularity; everyone loves a feelgood story.
Don't get it twisted. Flip is a real cat from North Philly who not only gets mad love in back home but also is getting love nationwide. He got a game that cats from the hood are going to support. But my argument w/ Riverspoon was that if we based trades and salaries on "street cred" then dudes like Skip, Moochie Norris, Duquan Wagner, Lloyd Daniels (just kidding) would be some of the highest paid cats in the league. Damn near every black dude in the league has street cred (at least in their own hood--there are a few exceptions). These dudes rarely grow up w/ money in their pockets and that's why they are so hungry to get in the league. Kobe never had street cred and his merchandise has no problem getting off the shelf. Flip to me has one of the craziest rags to riches stories in the league and when he really starts to dominate (or basically when he gets his deserved minutes) that's when his merchandise is going to sell like crazy. The only dudes in the league w/ street cred that carry that handle in the league (where owners take advantage of that fanfare) are A.I., K.G., Melo, Francis, Amare, Steph and LeBron (and he doesn't even carry it like he's from projects). People like Flip b/c he got game and that he took a different (harder) route to stardom, not b/c he's from North Philly.
^ I'm pretty sure the 'street cred' argument was just added to get the deal through, certainly it's not something that you specifically look for in a trade. I don't think Riverspoon was specifically basing salaries etc on his popularity, because you're spot on, we know the league doesn't work like that. It's just an added incentive. Shiek, check your PMs mate
The reason why the And I gets supported the way that it does is b/c of the entertainment aspect of it. Dudes throwing the ball off of people's heads, between their legs, dancing in the middle of the court, fans running on the court, that is what selling. Not the street ball aspect of it. That's not street ball, that is entertainment. Street ball is dudes waiting over an hour to get next b/c there are so many games that are in front of them; and if you lose you may have to wait another hour. Street ball are dudes sabatoging games so that they don't have to wait that hour (calling foul every time they miss a shot). Street ball are hard fouls that can easily turn into hard punches. Dudes playing summer league games at night and little kids waiting to shoot till the street lights are turned off. Cat's smoking and drinking on the benches talking bout how nice they were in high school. Now when they show the EBC (Rucker Park), that's street ball but that bs they show on ESPN (And I mixtape tour) that's not street ball. That's entertainment. The Modern Day Globetrotters.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Once Flip becomes a household name, he will garner a HUGE fanbase. Anyone see the Flip gang at the Rookie game? This season he's only just starting to get some attention, people had no idea who he was before this season, now they do. He has all the tools to get the sort of following that guys like AI and Francis have. Quick, killer crossover and he MAKES THE PLAY HAPPEN. People love watching him play, the fact that he's come from a rough background and went through Community College and Div 2 College ball IMO just adds to the popularity; everyone loves a feelgood story.</div> Agreed. He also has a real good mid range game. If he gets more time, whether it is in Seattle or somewhere else, he will become a big time player. People love to root for the underdog.
Carter never had street cred, he was rich when he was young lol, but he sells because he can dunk like a mad man and has the flare, but they're right, "street cred" does help.
